Text and context
Mohamed Haj Yousef’s article “What is Time?” identifies this formulation in the title of chapter 390 of Ibn al-Arabi’s Meccan Revelations and discusses its relational meaning. This edition preserves the attribution as reported in that interpretive source. The underlying Arabic edition and page reference have not been independently collated here.
Attributed reading
the time of a thing is its presence
Ibn al-Arabi, The Meccan Revelations, chapter 390, as translated and discussed by Mohamed Haj Yousef in “What is Time?”
Presence is a relation to be explained
The sentence invites a reader to ask what it means for something to be present: present to whom, in what mode, and through which relation? This is a different starting point from imagining time as an empty container into which already complete objects are placed. It also prevents a single English word from doing all the explanatory work.
In a technical model, an accessible record can represent one specified meaning of availability. It does not exhaust the historical or spiritual meaning of presence. The model must name the observation procedure and what information it can discriminate. Comparing such records can establish order; obtaining duration still requires a clock law. These distinctions let the historical idea motivate a question without being mistaken for its mathematical solution.
Questions for further reading
- Which relation makes something present in the historical discussion?
- What is the accessible observable in the mathematical model?
- Does the model establish order, duration, or both?
Interpretive scope
Historical and philosophical reflection. The SMM/DTT connections are contemporary interpretations and research questions; they are not claims that the cited text proves a modern physical theory.
Sources and attribution
- Mohamed Haj Yousef, “What is Time?” — Identifies chapter 390 and supplies the quoted English formulation. The Arabic edition was not independently collated.